SC to deliver verdict on constitutional validity of Aadhaar tomorrow

The government went to the Supreme Court previous year to argue that Indians did not have a fundamental right to privacy - a case linked to Aadhaar that it lost. "This is an endorsement of the UPA's vision for Aadhaar and a rejection of the NDA's clumsy attempt to gather meta data on its citizens without any rationale", said a statement issued by Congress leaders Ashok Gehlot, Kapil Sibal, and Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra said the judgment was a "big victory" for the Narendra Modi-led government, according to ET Now.

It was also pitched as a transparent way to ensure that government handouts of food, fuel and other essentials to India's poorest would not be siphoned off by corrupt middlemen, a huge problem in the vast country of 1.25bn. The apex court also said that it empowers the marginalized sections of the society.

The court ruled that UIDAI can't retain data (biometrics) beyond six months. A majority verdict by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri and A M Khanwilkar declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme constitutionally valid but struck down some of its provisions, including its linking with bank accounts, mobile phones and school admissions.